EBOLA SCARE! Yesterday a news conference was held dealing with the transfer of Dr. Rick Sacra to UNMC in Omaha. While doing missionary work in Liberia he contracted the deadly EBOLA virus. News reporters constantly refer to it as the deadly Ebola virus. Its the word DEADLY connected with Ebola that terrifies people. Most people who contract it die from it! DEATH scares people to death! But why? The evolutionary model of man does not account for a fear of death. Hebrews 2:15 speaks of the fear of death that people are held in bondage to throughout their lifetime. The fear of death goes back to Genesis 3 and the fall of mankind. When Adam and Eve sinned they were suddenly AFRAID of God (cf. Gen. 3:10). Sin brings DEATH and it brings FEAR. The word death means separation. God told Adam that the very day he ate of the forbidden fruit he would experience death (cf. Gen. 2:17). Although Adam did not die physically the very day he sinned, he did experience spiritual death in which his union with God was severed. And this put in motion the reality of coming physical death. He was now alienated from the life of God. Fellowship with God was broken and with it came fear. Mankind is made in the image of God and comes wired with a God-consciousness. God has put eternity in our hearts (cf. Eccl. 3:11). There is a fear of accountability to God - the One with Whom we have to do (cf. Heb. 4:13). The wages of sin is death (cf. Rom. 6:23). When we die physically our spirit is separated from our body (cf. Ja. 2:26). If we are saved to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 5:8, Phil. 1:23). If a person is lost when they die their spirit goes to a temporary holding place of torment called Hades (cf. Lk. 16:23). One day Christ will raise all from the dead including the lost of all the ages (cf. Jn. 5:28-29). There is a resurrection to life and a resurrection to condemnation (cf. Acts 24:15). The lost will one day be resurrected to stand before Gods GREAT WHITE THRONE. The Book of Life will be opened and anyone not found written in the Lambs Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire. This is called SECOND DEATH (cf. Rev. 20:11-15). Second death is ultimate and eternal death. It is eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire forever. Indeed, that is death to be FEARED! But Jesus is LIFE and offers eternal life to all that come to Him in repentance and faith. Jesus claimed to be the resurrection and the life and He promised He who believes in Me, though he may die [physically] he shall live [eternally]. (Jn. 11:25). And then He said, Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. (Jn. 11:26). When we come to Jesus we share in His forever life and for us as believers physical death is just a transition into His intimate presence where their is fullness of joy (cf. Ps. 16:11). Yes, death is an enemy, but we glory in the fact that this last enemy will be completely destroyed by Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 15:26). Praise God that in Christ we have been released from the penalty of sin and thus released from the fear of death. In conquering death Christ has given us victory over even the fear of death. If we have LIFE in Christ DEATH cannot touch us. For this reason the Bible use the word sleep of believers who have died (cf. 1 Thess. 4:15). The world is TERRIFIED of the death problem - and rightfully so! But the gospel is GOOD NEWS. It is the NEWS that Christ alone has the answer to the DEATH problem! His resurrection PROVED it! Celebrating LIFE in Christ! Matthew 10:28 (NKJV) 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. John 5:24 (NKJV) 24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Hebrews 2:14–15 (NKJV) 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 1 John 5:11–12 (NKJV) 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 14:05:34 +0000
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